PoetryThe rich like to lecture you about the much-vaunted virtues of meritocracy while they slip fat stacks of greasy bills into the plump-fingered hands of corrupt admissions officers ensconced at elite ivy-draped…
PoetryI am gardening in south Louisiana heat, my Mother’s Day gift to myself, until, red in the face and soaked with sweat, thirsty, I turn on the spigot, watch the rush of…
PoetryBless the turnstile too tight for your young hands to push past, the three silver arms I bumped with my hip that we shot through together like two sunflower seeds spat through…
FictionAfternoon thunderstorms converted the front ditch into a stream. Josh, Caroline, and Melissa rushed outside and jumped into their temporary pool. They flailed their arms and splashed water everywhere. They screamed and…
FictionI remember falling down. I twirled and twirled until I couldn’t stand upright. I was giddy and swooned and hit the ground hard. But I laughed. I always laughed. What was it…
PoetryThe lady came on at the 14th floor Those of us already there restarted our maneuverings— puzzle pieces, so we seemed, intent upon position strategizing as we might the best accommodation, leaving…
FictionThe beach, littered with bone-white shells and coral, soaks up blood with surprising speed. My blood. The sting of salt water on open wounds keep me from passing out. Flayed muscle and…
FictionAs Ray scanned the property, he couldn’t help but notice how run-down things had gotten after mom died. Cancer had come quickly for his mother, and when she left three years ago,…
NonfictionIn Moorestown, New Jersey, the quiet suburb of Philadelphia in which I was forced to spend the first eighteen years of my life, winters were associated with hell, and summers with water…
PoetryMoonbeams at my back I sweep stardust from my eyes Once inebriated with thirst with lust Now Firefly in a jar The once resplendent blaze feeble weak Longing for lustrous heavens To…
FictionJill was startled awake by a sound. She sat up in bed, staring into the darkness. The blankets had been thrown aside. As her eyes adjusted, she could see them churned up…
FictionI was only seventeen when I fell in love with a one-armed trumpet player. It didn’t take long. I met him. I fell in love. That quick. My older sister sang in…
PoetryStanding under the hot summer sun on the asphalt too hot to touch start right here the boss does say two feet wide and four feet down you stare across the parking…
Recipes3 cups fresh blueberries ½ cup Splenda (or sugar) 2 tablespoons cornstarch 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel 1 tablespoon lemon juice ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 package (8-oz) refrigerator crescent rolls cinnamon-sugar…
FictionYou are a creature my tired feet are limping to capture, an awakening on the horizon as luscious as the sinking sun, bright and empty as the moon and her sad face,…
FictionMy knuckles turned white from the death grip on my axe. Chewy clutched his shovel like a bayonet. We squinted in the cold dark forest. The campfire cast long distorted images across…
PoetryTrail rocks—wet leaves, talk— determined footing, no view yet but a cell tower at the top, the world as a work of— This one means transience like a vagrant— One day—sans home,…
Poetryan unruly breeze tugs and teases golden braids when the sun flowers and her daughters laugh and nod meadows dance with mockingbirds ~Fredericksburg, Virginia
PoetryIn some neighborhoods, the home owners cut their grass, but in our neighborhood, most people mow their weeds. Some might call them invasive weeds, but to a few too many neighbors, they…
PoetryThey had matching lawn mowers. She mowed the front yard, and he mowed the back. It reminded me of the movie Deliverance where I first heard the song Dueling Banjos at the…